duck and run
by Elspeth
Summary: duo and his twins past is one filled with pain and seperation, answers what happened after maxwell church and why duo never mentioned lese.


Hey guys this is my first vid fic so be kind please. Music affects me a lot when I write and I heard this and it seemed almost Celeste's theme song. This deals with lese and duos past. Since I started writing about Celeste I've been asked a lot about her past and what happened to her after Maxwell church, this isn't in detail but it hints at what happened and above all whom lese really is inside. the music is 3 doors down try and listen as you read.  
  
DUCK AND RUN.  
  
In dark cell a patch of light falls across the face of the prisoner, an ugly purple bruise shows from beneath her brown hair that hangs loose over her face, her arm lies limp, broken at her side. The officer backhands her across the face again, her head snaps viciously to one side, making her go dizzy for a second but she utters not a word  
  
" Name?!!" he barks, grabbing her hair by its braid and wrenching it back so she is inches from his face. Violet fire glares back from the girls' eyes as she remains quiet, but her look of defiance speaks volumes, she has seen worse, lived worse than this. She won't betray her brother and her friends. The guard snarls in frustration and brings the butt of the gun down on her head, she falls to the floor and unconsciousness claims her. Her eyes close and she retreats into her memories  
  
* Music starts slow guitars*  
  
The scene rushes down a dirty back street on l2 heading towards a skinny 7-year-old girl. She's filthy and her long hair hangs in ratty strands down her back. She glances nervously at the alliance soldiers at the end of the street gathered round a bar before returning her attention to the food on the stall in front of her. The owner turns his back for a second, she bites her lip undecided before the cramping in her stomach makes the decision for her, and she grabs some bread and runs. The shouts of the shopkeeper ring out behind her and she glances back, her violet eyes wide with fear as she sees the alliance soldiers starting to run after her. Her breath comes in gasps as she dodges through the crowd like a scared rabbit trying to get away. But behind her the soldiers are gaining, then she reaches the end of the line, the pathway is gone and there is only a sheer drop ahead. She knows she can't make it to the other side but as she looks back at the soldiers nearing her she has no choice, she takes a deep breathe, shuts her eyes and jumps  
  
* Electric guitars start*  
  
She falls but a hand catches her, she looks up into a grinning face as duo hauls her up onto the far side before shoving her onto the ground as the soldiers open fire laughing. They easily jump the gap and aim again at the twins as the scrabble to their feet, duo hauling his sister up.  
  
//To this world i'm unimportant just because I have nothing to give, //  
  
Half drunk one solider aims and fires, lese drops clutching her shoulder as the blood begins to flow but she bites her lip against the pain refusing to give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry, but her tear filled eyes turn to look at her attacker in confusion as if to say why? Duo turns as he feels her hand go slack and sees blood oozing down her arm. He looks up with disbelief at the laughing corporal and his three friends unable to believe what they've done. His face contorts in anger as he runs at them fury fuelling his stride.  
  
//so you call this a free country? Tell me why it cost so much to live. //  
  
He kicks the first soldier in the shin making him howl and begins hitting another in the stomach. Half crazed with anger and fear duo just keeps on hitting as the soldier falls to the ground, all this…his sister got shot for a loaf of bread? It wasn't fair, not right!! They were just kids!! But the black haired officer brings his fist into duo's gut making the boy gasp and double over before hauling the him off his feet by his grubby collar. The mans blue eyes were cold and emotionless, cruel; the street kids were nothing to him disposable, vermin. He hated vermin they should be exterminated duo was in for a world of pain  
  
//tell me why. //  
  
Lese looks up from her heap on the ground, fire burning in her shoulder where the tiny piece of metal was buried  
" No!!" she yells staggering to her feet and hauling on the officer's arm. He sneers at the child before bringing his hand across her face sending her skidding across the ground grazing both her legs. Before fastening his hands round duo's throat and squeezing  
  
//this world can turn me down //  
  
She raises herself up onto her hands again her head reeling from the blow and looks at the help less form of her brother kicking in mid air.  
  
// But I wont turn away//  
  
Again she gets up, more slowly this time and staggers over to the corporal her head numb and her legs weak. She seizes his gun from its holster and points it with trembling hands and the monster choking her twin  
" Let him go!!" she sobs, the raven haired man looks with disgust at the girl and just smiles as duo begins to look limp.  
" Let him go!!" she yells again pulling back the hammer and glaring but still the officer ignores her. She closes her eyes for a second unsure of what to do but one look at her brother's lifeless form removes all doubt  
  
//oh no I won't turn around. //  
  
She pulls the trigger the soldier crumples to the ground releasing her gasping brother. She lowers the gun looking shocked at what she'd done. She'd killed a man. She stares at her hands in disbelief before flinging the gun away from her as if it burns. She turns and looks at her brother who is gazing at her with a look of awe and shock still rubbing his neck where the dead mans hands was fastened. Trembling her legs give way beneath her, she drops to her knees and cries.  
  
//all my work and endless measures never seem to get me very far.//  
  
Scene changes to a darkened warehouse, the girl lies motionless on a pile of dustsheets. Her cheeks are sunken and dark circles lie under her eyes. Her skin is a sickly yellow colour and her breathing is weak and laboured. At her feet sits her brother, his chin is rested on his knees as he looks worriedly at the girl as she begins coughing. She turns on her side and coughs up a mixture of blood and pus. He squeezes his eyes shut to stop the tears from coming he knows his sister has the same plague that took their friend solo and again there is nothing he can do to save her.  
  
//walk a mile just to move an inch, now even though I'm trying so damn hard. //  
  
She looks guiltily at her brother and tries to smile reassuringly even though it hurts to move. Just then the door bursts open and alliance troops begin to enter, other orphans start screaming as they run away from the soldiers. This is the death squad; to appease the richer colony members the alliance blamed the plague on the street kids. In response to public outcry they now " take care" of the problem. They kill the children.  
Duo's head snaps up, he runs over to lese tugging on her arm  
  
" Ya gotta get up come on lese!!" he pleads "" we gotta get outta here!!" he tugs on her arm but all she can do is moan  
" Leave me duo.i'll slow you down bro.get going" she whispers her insides aching from being shaken. She doesn't want to die but she doesn't want duo to suffer for her, she mentally begs duo to go fighting back tears. But duo just stares at her shaking his head  
" No we go together lese I'll always be by your side now please get up. They're coming!!" she looks into his violet eyes and sighs. She shakily puts her weight on her hands and tries to ease herself up onto weak limbs. Grabbing duo's hand she manages to stand but the room spins and waves of nausea over come her. Her legs buckle sending her crashing to the floor again and coughing violently.  
  
// I'm trying so hard. //  
  
She looks up helplessly from the floor, shivering and sweating her pulse racing. Half of her wants to lie down and just make it all stop but the other desperately wants to live.   
  
// This world can turn me down but I won't turn away. //  
  
She looks at duo again and bites her lip. She's not going to die here. Not like this, no way in hell. She's not going to die from some stinking alliance made disease. She grasps his hand again and hauls herself to her feet leaning heavily on her twin.  
  
// And I won't duck and run cause i'm not built that way. //  
  
She ignores the screaming pain in her muscles and grits her teeth, she focuses on the ground and tries to stop the darkness claiming her vision. Duo manages to half carry, half drag lese outside as the tortured screams ring out behind them.  
  
// When everything is gone there is nothing left to fear //   
  
She shuts her eyes as the building explodes behind them blowing a hot wind over them, everyone they knew had been in there. The alliance probably burnt them alive " to stop the spread of infection". She leans heavily on her brother, her body shaking.  
" What do we do now duo?" she murmurs gazing at the burning wreck as it's orange glow adds colour to her sickly skin.  
  
" i..i don't know lese" he replies hugging her.  
" You can stay with me…. you kids look like you could use a home"  
The twins turn to see a smiling old priest stood behind them  
" I'm father Maxwell" he replies simply  
Lese and duo look, duo shrugs.  
" Why not can't be any worse," he answers  
  
// This world cant bring me down cause i'm already here.//   
  
Scene spins and an older lese is stood on the bombsite of Maxwell church, her body silhouetted against the fires that still burn there. Around her are the corpses of father Maxwell and sister Helen already going soft. She stares around her in disbelief.  
" No.not again" she whispers balling her fists and turning her head away from the half grinning corpse of her adprtive mother  
Everything is gone again, her home, her friends and one more thing….  
  
// I'm already here… down on my knees //  
  
She falls to her knees on the rubble, throws her head back and howls in anguish  
"DUOOOOOOOO!!!!"  
Her brother is gone. She's alone.  
  
// I'm already here //  
  
She wants to curl up in a ball, lie down and never wake up she can't take it anymore…she could endure the streets, she could live through the plague, she could watch her friends die. But now her brother was gone. She can't cope with this, the world could burn and she'd be ok as long as duo was there by her side but now?  
She saw him run from the horror of their home thinking they were all dead. She heard him scream as he found sister Helen and then yell out her name over and over. She'd tried to yell but she'd been trapped and he couldn't hear her. She felt empty…dead inside…so cold. So alone  
She crawls over to the pulpit where father Maxwell used to talk to them, put her head on her knees and sobs.  
  
// I'm already here//  
  
She raises her head and fixes her violet eyes on the silicone horizon………no duo was alive, she'd seen him. If he lived then so did she. She'd find him again no matter what it takes; all she has to do is stay alive. All she has to do is not give up  
" I'll find you duo…I swear it"  
  
//I must have told you a thousand times   
I'm not running away //  
  
She gets up and wipes her eyes. Crying was going to get her nowhere and duo had always said big girls don't cry. She takes one last look around Maxwell church before putting it in the past along with the rest of the pain from her life then she walks out into the street, leaving the ruins of her childhood behind. She will survive.  
  
//guitar solo//  
  
The 13-year-old girl runs along the street laughing as two alliance troops try to keep up. Twice they nearly loose her but they see the flash of her braid and manage to follow. She ducks down a small alley and jump up onto the edge of the bridge. She turns her head back to the soldiers before grinning, waving and back flipping off the bridge onto the path below. She lands cat like before straightening up, bowing and blowing a kiss at the two angry faces glaring down at her from the over pass bridge above.  
  
" We'll get you next time you little street vermin" snarls the soldier, his face going red and contorting in temper. Lese just smirks back at him  
" Yeah I believe ya said that before ya jerk.oh and thanks for the donation it's appreciated" she tosses the soilders wallet in the air and catches it, winking as the soilders hand goes to his pocket to find his money missing.  
  
" you..you..One day we're going to get you, you little bitch and you're gonna pay…you hear that girl.you're gonna pay!!" he shrieks as his friends drags him off before they draw attention to themselves  
  
Once they are gone lese heads under the bridge whistling to herself with her hands in her pockets. She wrinkles her nose at the smell under the bridge as water drips down her neck from the stalactites above. Suddenly lese is disturbed by a noise from some boxes stacked against the wall, curious she goes over and pulls aside the cardboard.  
" Don't hurt us we don't have anything!!" whimpers the 6 year old girl cowering against the wall. Her blues eyes wide with fear she tightly clings onto a 5-year-old boy, with black hair who is painfully thin and shivering. Lese sighs.  
  
" I'm not gonna hurt ya kiddo..Don't worry I'm going"  
She holds her hands up and backs away from the two children to let them calm down and begins walking away but she hears the boy shivering behind her and his whispering  
  
" I'm hungry. My tummy hurts"  
" shhh I know..but..but we don't got food caleb..just..just try and sleep k?" replies the girl pulling the boxes round them again to try and keep them warm. Lese turns and looks over her shoulder and cringes, they seem so like how her and duo were before solo took pity on them and taught them how to survive. Half of her tells her it's not her problem and that she should keep walking but the other feels that she should somehow repay solo for what he did, to help the kids as he'd helped her and duo.  
  
" Hmm looks like I'm the older wiser one now huh solo…jeez I'm such a softy" she murmurs to herself, before turning round and plastering a friendly grin on her face  
" Come on you two. ya can't stay out here there is some real jerks around…I know a place ya can get warm..and..and heck I'll even get ya some food" she calls cheerfully holding her hands out to the kids who look fearfully at each other.  
  
" come on you guys I don't bite..my names lese and I'm guessing ya as hungry as me yes? Come on then,…. the alliance is buying" she grinned throwing the wallet in the air and catching it again. Food worked the two hesitantly crawled out and took her hands.  
  
" you're..you're gonna look after us now?" asked caleb he stared up at her with innocent wonder , pleadingly tightening his grip on her hand. Lese swallowed, the kid had violet eyes, like hers..like duo's. she shook her head and winked at him tightening her grip on his hand reassuringly  
  
" yeah kid I'm gonna look out for ya for now… come on lets get some place warm I'm freezing out here" she smiles as she walks offinto the city with the two waifs.  
  
The image spins and a 14 year old lese is now the leader of a gang of younger orphans though big sister would be a better term. She turns her head quickly as the door to the abandoned house shudders. Frightened caleb and his siter amy cling to lese as she stands in front of them. Behind her in the rest of the room are about 12 other street children sat on upturned crates, filing cabinets and other junk. All of whom see her as their protector.two older boys stand ready to fight along side lese as the door gives way and the new troops of oz break in  
  
//I wont duck and run//  
  
" dorn, alex get them out of here now!! I'll stall em"   
lese yells at the two boys.  
" but lese you can't..not all of em!!" protests a blonde kid holding amys hand"  
" just do it don't argue!!" she yells back, he nods hesitanly before picking up caleb and running out the back with the other as lese blocks their escape. She glares at the oz troops and picks up a steel bar from the floor. Time to defend her family.  
  
//I wont duck and run/  
  
she swings it at the nearest soilder knocking him unconscious as the metal coolides with his skull with a sickening thud. Another tries to pin her arms but she snap kicks him in the gut, spins and brings her heel smashing down on his back leaving him sprawling on the dusty floor.  
  
//I wont duck and run//   
  
out of the corner of her eye she sees a tall red haired corprel haul one of the kids off the floor by the throat and duo 6 years before flashes before her eyes  
" NO!!" she screams pounding across the floor and body slamming him , making him drop the kid  
" LEAVE HIM THE HELL ALONE!!" she starts hitting the man over and over till za blow to the side of the head makes her see stars and she goes dizzy.  
  
//No I will pass away//  
  
she's hauled off the soilder and her hands are wrenched behind her back viciously and cuffed. A mouth leans in close to her ear and foul breathe tickles the back of her neck  
" I told you I'd get you , you little bitch . time you payed"   
her eyes go wide as she recognises the soilder and tries to calm the panic building inside.as she's hauled away.  
  
//this world cant turn me down, but won't turn away.//   
  
she's thrown in a cell within the genesis base. Noone ever comes out of genesis alive. The alliance may have developed biological warfare when they released the plague on l2 but oz were taking it to new levels. Genesis was the testing ground, and lese their new guinea pig. She looks around the barren cells and rubbed the manacles on her wrist before turning her gaze to the camera in the corner of the room and smashing it. If this is where she was goning to die she sure as hell wasn't letting them see her go.  
  
//and i wont duck and run, cause im not built that way.//  
  
a year.. she'd lasted a year in this hell hole. She'd been injected, gassed, drugged, tied down, Tied up, cut, bled,poked and prodded..half of it she didn't remember and was damn glad she couldn't but she took satisfaction from the fact no matter what they did…. What they gave her it didn't work. They were using the same carrier virus as they'd used for the l2 plague as she'd survived it she had an immunity to anything they could create. But it also meant they used her a lot more, decided if they could kill her then they had the perfect virus and The experiments hurt…they hurt like hell.  
  
//when everything is gone there is nothing there to fear.//   
  
she looked up as her captor entered the room, it was the soilder whoses wallet she'd taken, now an oz general…stupid lese..real stupid she scolded herself. She ignored him and went back to looking at the latest " tissue sample" they'd taken from her, a flimsy dressing and surgical tape covered the wound on her leg where the bone marrow had been extracted . of couse she'd been awake through the procedure…she was always awake. It had numbed from a white pain to an agonising throb and no matter where she sat it still burned. Then she noticed that this time he'd left the door open, he'd never done that before…she could run for it…she'd probably get killed but what was the options..death or here?  
  
//this world cant bring mr down cause im already here. //  
  
" you make things so hard on yourself girl..if you would only " play nice" I could make it far easier you know" smirked the general grabbing her chin and tilting it into the light. Her eyes narrowed as she jerks her head from his grasp  
" I'll play you bastard" she thought to herself and her knee connected with his groin, dropping him in an instant . scrabbeling to her feet and grbbing his gun she ran for the door as her yelled out her escape.  
  
//this world cant turn me down, but won't turn away.//  
  
she ignores the gunfire behind here and the screaming pain in her leg as she races down the corrudor ahead she see's a way out. There's a window, without thinking she dives through it and hits the ground rolling in a parking bay. she crawls under a transporter lorry and hangs off the underside, holding her breathe as she hears feet rush past. She's sure they'd be able to hear her breathing but they don't. then the truck starts. She clings underneath, her hands growing numb for what feels like hours but at least she's free. Finally the truck stops and she crawls out back in the city. In front of her is a large vid screen and what's on it makes her stop dead.  
  
//and I wont duck and run cause I'm not built that way//  
  
" the gundam pilot has escaped and is believed to alreadt be back on earth, romafella assures us he will be apprehended soon" the reporter babbled but that was not what lese was looking at , the boy on the screen..the escaped gundam pilot..it..it was duo!!  
" duo!! You're..you're a gundam pilot?!!" gasped lese..the report had said earth… if that's where duo was , that's where she was going.  
  
//when everything is lost there's nothing left to fear//  
  
the image fades to lese huddled in the back of a cargo ship bound for earth, she looks at the earth out the window and smiles her first real smile in a long time. She looks down at her birth mark on her hip , her link to duo and grins..she's going to see him again. She frowns as she sees all the other scars on her body though, they stand out like hyroglyphs on her skin, screaming out her past so she can never forget it. As the shuttle touches down lese sneaks out before the crew see their stowaway   
  
" here ya go sally just sign hope it help" yells the piolet waving at a blonde woman in army fatigues who jumps down out of a truck.  
Lese hauls herself up into the truck and hides while the two talk, then realises that her ride is full of explosives and weaponry  
" oh god not good" she thinks as the truck starts  
  
//this world can not bring me down..no cause I'm already here?/  
  
lese blinks as the taupaline covering her is ripped away and daylight floods her eyes. She shields them with her hands as the blonde woman puts her hands on her hips and looks at her.  
" hmmm what do we have here? ..you managed to stowaway on the truck?"   
lese nodds dumbly and back peddles to get away from sally po.  
" I wont tell on you!! I swear!!" she stutters climbing to her feet and looking for an escape. Sally smiles, shaking her head  
" don't worry I don't bite….you hungry?" lese looks dumbstruck as sally hold out her hand  
" come on kid…. welcome to the resistance..we could use someone like you.. what do you say? my names sally?" lese looks at the woman and shrugs, if they hated oz that was good enough for her. she takes sally's hand and jumps down, dusting herself off and grins back at sally straigtening her braid  
" lese…lese Maxwell"  
she'd found a new home  
  
*final chords play*  
  
image rushes towards a figure siloueted against the moon her braid stirs faintly in the wind .the moon casts a faint light over the side of lese's face as she stands on a hill over looking a base. She glances over her shoulder with a determined look and holds up a detonator. She pushes the button and the base bursts into flames with a loud roar. Closer and closer to her violet eyes the image goes till they blink and lese wakes up back on to prison floor again.  
  
She touches the back of her hand to her mouth to wipe away the blood before hauling herself to her feet with her one good arm  
" you're awake? Good now for the last time name girl!! Who are you?" the guard snaps, grabbing her by the collar and pulling back his fist. She raises his eyes to meet his tilting her chin up defiantly  
again she keeps silent Duo's secret was safe  
" fine maybe this will loosen your tongue" smirks the guard ready to punch the girl. A shadow falls acoss him and he turns to see a braided teenage boy stood in the doorway, in his hand a gun and on his face a look of cold fury. His eyes briefly take in lese's condition , they narrow and his lip curls Into a snarl before the cool violet gaze shifts back to the gaurd  
  
" her name is celeste Maxwell, she's my sister and for what you've done to her, you're dead" he snarls unleashing 3 bullets into the guard. He folds dropping Lese and she falls sobbing into duo's arms finally able to give into the pain and grief. Duo just hugs her and lets her cry it all out before whispering in her ear  
" I told ya I'd always be here for ya, you're not alone anymore lese, lets go home"   
he then supports her out the prison door into the sunlight where she blinks as the harsh light attacks her eyes. As her legs fold beneath her He picks her up as the four days starvation finally take their toll, and carries her to deathscythe who is stood like a shinning saviour ahead.  
  
" yeah I got her were coming home" duo answeres a concerned quatre on the com before turning it off and turning to lese. He smiles at his sleeping sister besides him, and gentley pushes the hair from her face before starting his gundam  
" sleep well girl ya earned it, ya finally safe…., it's over")  
  
  
  
elspeth chang – wythces cavern http://www.kjkemp.fsnet.co.uk  
all gundam wing guys, except celestia maxwell are property of Bandai, and sosetsu I borrowed because I admire. Duck and run is property of 3 doors down I worship both!!  



End file.
